Sole-protector



W. H. BETTS.

SOLE PROTECTOR.

LAPPLICATION FILED AUG-20.1917- 1,3 1 0,050; Patented July 15, 1919.

WILLIAM H. BETTS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-IALF TO FRANK BOUGHT, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SOLE-PROTECTOR.

Application filed August 20, 1917.

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Bn'rrs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sole-Protectors, of which the following is a specification containing a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to certain new improvements in sole protectors having for its primary object a protector to be used on the sole of shoes and boots which may be fastened to the same securely by means of integral prongs which curve or clench themselves into the soles merely by the resistance of the material.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view illustrating my improvement set ready to be driven into the shoe sole.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the protector and a sectional view of the material in which it is driven showing the clenching action.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the shoe sole with a part broken away showing my protector applied thereto.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of my improvement with parts broken away illustrating the difference in curvature of the two faces of the prongs.

Fig. 6 is a detailed perspective of one prong and a portion of the driving head.

Referring to the drawings by numerals: 7 indicates the body or driving head of the protector which also performs the function of a wear plate, and furthermore acts as a .connecting bridge or means between the driving prongs. In other words, each protector must be provided with at least two integral prongs 8 which must be connected at the upper ends so as to hold the prongs in proper position when being driven so as to clench properly by the resistance of the material into wh1ch they are driven. The prongs 8, as will be observed from Figs. 1, 5 and 6 gradually taper from where they are joined to head 7 to the points. These prongs have considerable width as compared with their thickness, as is fully illustrated in Fig. 6. The prongs are normally curved before being driven, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 5 and Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1919.

Serial No. 187,041.

6, the inside of the prongs having a different curvature than the outside faces, as is illustrated in Fig. 5. It will be observed from Fig. 5 that the outside face of the prongs is an arc of a circle of a certain radius A, while the inside face is an arc of a circle of a different or greater radius B. Furthermore, it will be observed from Fig. 6 that the edges of the prongs are substantially parallel. I have found out by experiment that by constructing the prongs as shown and described they will clench when driven into leather, as illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein it will be observed that the resistance offered by the leather will cause the prongs to clench into the material without the use of any clenching plate, or without being driven through the leather. When my protector is applied to a shoe sole, it is highly desirable that the prongs should not pass through the sole, but should clench within the sole as illustrated in Fig. 2. As heretofore stated, the driving head 7 performs the function of not only a driving head, but it also performs the function of a wear plate and answers the means of connecting the prongs together at their bases, which is necessary to have them clench or curve uniformly when driven. It will be observed from Fig. 2 that when the protector is applied the points of the prongs project toward each other and occupy substantially the same plane. Any shape of'driving head 7 may be employed so long as it answers as a means of uniting the base of the prongs, and holds them in fixed relation to each other while being driven.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is:

A sole protector for shoes and the like comprising a relatively thin and flat combined driving head and wear plate, and a pair of prongs formed integrally with the ends of said plate each of which is disposed centrally of the longitudinal axis of the plate and at the ends thereof, and directly opposite to each other, said prongs being of equal widths and of greater widths than thicknesses and substantially uniform widths from the ends of the plate to their edges and having their inner and outer faces gradually curved and tapered from the plate to their edges, the curvatures of the inner faces being struck from arcs of circles of greater diameter than the outer faces,

whereby upon applying the protector to In testimony whereof, I have signed my the sole by drlvlng upon the drlvlng head, name to this speclficatlon 1n presence of the said prongs W111 be snnultaneously 1ntwo subscrlbing Witnesses.

serted into the material and be gradually WILLIAM H. BETTS. and uniformly curved toward each other Witnesses:

Within the material Without the use of any C. A. WEGMER,

subsequent clenching. WALTER C. STEIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for 'five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

